Fortress Oreshek

A wooden fortress named Oreshek was built by Grand Prince Yury of Moscow (in his capacity as Prince of Novgorod) on behalf of the Novgorod Republic in 1323. It guarded the northern approaches to Novgorod and access to the Baltic Sea.

The fort was captured by Sweden in 1611 during the Ingrian War. As part of the Swedish Empire, the fortress was known as Nöteborg ("Nut-fortress").

In 1702, during the Great Northern War, the fortress was taken by Russians under Peter the Great. It was then given its current name, Shlisselburg, a corruption of Schlüsselburg. The name, meaning "Key-fortress" in German, refers to Peter's perception of the fortress as the "key to Ingria".

By now the fortress retains only six (five Russian and one Swedish) out of original ten towers. The remains of a church inside the fortress were transformed into a memorial to the fortress's defenders. There is also a museum of political prisoners of the Russian Empire and a small collection of World War II artillery.